An entertaining speculative fiction novel with an affable hero stuck in a rough political situation.
In Jones’ speculative fiction novel, Wyoming loses its statehood and becomes a new political entity.
In a time “many years from now,” a poacher has just been killed in Wyonation, the region formerly known as the state of Wyoming. Due to the 28th Amendment of the United States Constitution ratifying a requirement that all states have a citizenry the size of at least 1/700th of the nation’s population, Wyoming lost statehood. Described as a “brand-new, geographical entity… that lies entirely inside” the U.S. borders, Wyonation has its own governing body and laws, and its residents live by different rules. With the death of the poacher, who's discovered to have been a Chinese national, a whole set of negotiations with representatives from the Chinese government must begin, with the U.S. acting as an estranged middleman. After a tense afternoon of back-and-forth between politicians on both sides, Grayson Woodley, who was the point person for protecting Wyoming citizens during the state’s transition, decides to get a drink at a local bar to wind down and is joined by Mr. Tang, one of the Chinese delegates. Tang is very interested to learn how Wyonation went from statehood to its new designation, and in Woodley’s role in it all. Though Woodley is careful not to reveal too much information to a foreign agent, it seems as though Tang may be more involved in Wyonation’s creation than Woodley could have ever guessed. This speculative novel deftly develops its fascinating concept by detailing the politics that go into creating a new region almost entirely from scratch. Grayson Woodley is a likeable hero—a small-town Wyoming man forced into political life to try to save his state, managing to make friends on both sides of the fence with his easygoing attitude and general likeability. The back-and-forth-in-time structure of the story keeps the plot moving briskly, and the political material, rather than dragging the story down, proves intriguing.
An entertaining speculative fiction novel with an affable hero stuck in a rough political situation.Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2023
ISBN: 9780999001738
Page Count: 290
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
A fresh and clever whodunit with an engaging twist.
A 16-year-old savant uses his Groundhog Day gift to solve his grandfather’s murder.
Nishizawa’s compulsively readable puzzle opens with the discovery of the victim, patriarch Reijiro Fuchigami, sprawled on a futon in the attic of his elegant mansion, where his family has gathered for a consequential announcement about his estate. The weapon seems to be a copper vase lying nearby. Given this setup, the novel might have proceeded as a traditional whodunit but for two delightful features. The first is the ebullient narration of Fuchigami’s youngest grandson, Hisataro, thrust into the role of an investigator with more dedication than finesse. The second is Nishizawa’s clever premise: The 16-year-old Hisataro has lived ever since birth with a condition that occasionally has him falling into a time loop that he calls "the Trap," replaying the same 24 hours of his life exactly nine times before moving on. And, of course, the murder takes place on the first day of one of these loops. Can he solve the murder before the cycle is played out? His initial strategies—never leaving his grandfather’s side, focusing on specific suspects, hiding in order to observe them all—fall frustratingly short. Hisataro’s comical anxiety rises with every failed attempt to identify the culprit. It’s only when he steps back and examines all the evidence that he discovers the solution. First published in 1995, this is the first of Nishizawa’s novels to be translated into English. As for Hisataro, he ultimately concludes that his condition is not a burden but a gift: “Time’s spiral never ends.”
A fresh and clever whodunit with an engaging twist.Pub Date: July 29, 2025
ISBN: 9781805335436
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Pushkin Vertigo
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
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